YouTube For iOS Now Supports Up to 1440p Playback on 4.7-inch Devices, 1080p on 4-inch

YouTube for iOS now supports 1440p playback on iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, whereas it supports up to 1080p on iPhone 5s and iPhone SE.

YouTube Now Squeezes in More Pixels When You Are Playing a Video on a Smaller iPhone

On an iPhone, YouTube behaves and works in a rather interesting manner. Up till now, if you had a 4 or 4.7-inch iPhone, you’ll notice that you are not able to stream videos higher than 720p resolution. That’s understandable, given the aforementioned phones don’t pack in displays above 720p. Now though, it seems YouTube wants you to stream more pixels. How much more? A lot more than the device actually packs in the panel.

Having tried it on several iPhone devices with me, I can confirm that I am now able to stream videos in up to 1440p resolution on a device that has a 4.7-inch display. This includes the iPhone 7, iPhone 6s as well as iPhone 6. But if you have an iPhone that packs an even smaller display, such as an iPhone 5s or iPhone SE, you’ll notice you can stream videos in up to 1080p resolution.

At this point you must be wondering: Why would I need to do such a thing? Well, even if you are limited to a 720p display, squeezing in twice as many pixels on the same low resolution panel will actually result in a finer quality video. If you are not aware of what I’m talking about, you might want to look up ‘Supersampling.’

While this is all good and well, but keep one obvious caveat in mind: streaming videos in higher quality will take a huge toll on your data – whether its cellular or WiFi. If you are absolutely fine with that, then go ahead streaming in high quality. If not, then you might want to head over to the video’s Quality settings and select a much lower resolution.

This is a great little addition to YouTube as it really makes the video quality pop out of the display. But remember, it will tax your data like crazy. If you have a capped Internet connection, then be careful what you are running into.

If you have an iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus or iPhone 7s Plus, you’ll notice you can play videos in up to 1440p. This feature has been around for well over a year in fact. But thankfully, you can do the same on a smaller iPhone.